1. Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates to a system for manufacturing a side panel of a vehicle. In particular, it relates to a system for manufacturing a side panel of a vehicle, in which the side panel is fixed using an external unit during key welding to cope with various types of carts for various vehicle models and the cart is driven in a frictional contact manner to reduce the manufacturing cost and installation space.
2. Description of-Related Art
Vehicle body panels for constituting a vehicle body are formed by pressing and conveyed to a vehicle body assembly line to be assembled into a vehicle body. Then, exterior panels such as doors, trunk lids, hoods, fenders, etc. are mounted on the assembled vehicle body and then subjected to a painting process.
Next, various components such as engines, transmissions, interior/exterior parts, etc. are assembled in a trim line, thus producing a complete vehicle.
FIG. 1 shows a conventional system for manufacturing a vehicle body panel, which generally comprises a linear motor 1 for providing a driving force for driving a cart 2, the cart 2, on which the vehicle body panel is placed and fixed, transferred to each process, a turntable 3 rotatably disposed between a welding robot 4 and an unloading robot 5, and the welding robot 4 for welding the vehicle body panel placed on the cart 2, and the unloading robot 5 for unloading the welded vehicle body panel and transferring it to the next process.
A plurality of linear motors 1 are installed between running rails, on which the cart 2 moves, to move the cart 2 in a non-contact manner.
Here, each of the linear motors 1 is controlled by an inverter to drive the cart 2 and, for this purpose, a gap between the cart 2 and the linear motors 1 should be maintained constant.
Moreover, a stopper 6 is provided to allow the cart 2 to be stopped at a desired position when the cart 2 is transferred to each process, thus controlling the position of the cart 2.
The conventional system moves the cart 2 in a non-contact manner using the linear motors 1, rotates the cart 2 using the turntable 3 in a welding process, unloads the welded vehicle body panel using the unloading robot 5, and transfers the vehicle body panel to the next process.
The operation of the above-described system will now be described.
In process A, the vehicle body panel is loaded on the cart 2, and the cart 2 is driven by the linear motors 1 and transferred to process B.
In process B, the cart 2 is rotated 180 degrees by the turntable 3 and transferred to process C, the vehicle body panel placed and fixed on the cart 2 is welded by the welding robot 4 in process C, the cart 2 is rotated to its original position by the turntable 3 and returned to process B, and the panel is unloaded by the unloading robot 5.
In process D, the cart 2 stands by the next loading of the vehicle body panel and moves to process A, and the panel is loaded on the cart 2.
The cart 2, from which the panel is unloaded in process B, is transferred to the process D to stands by the next loading of the vehicle body panel.
However, the conventional linear motors 1 are arranged along the running rails to move the cart 2, and thus the number of linear motors 2 is very large, which results in an increase in cost. Moreover, the capacity of the inverter for controlling the linear motor 1 is increased, which results in an increase in the manufacturing cost. Further, the size of its control panel is also increased, and thus the installation space is increased, thus being not advantageous in terms of layout.
Moreover, since the linear motor 1 drives the cart 2 in a non-contact manner, errors occur frequently when the moving speed of the cart 2 is controlled, and the manufacturing and assembling costs are increased to maintain the gap between the linear motors 1 and the cart 2.
Furthermore, every time when a new vehicle model is developed, some processes should be added to the production line, which is limited in terms of the management of the system. In addition, the manufacturing cost of the turntable is high.
The information disclosed in this Background of the Invention section is only for enhancement of understanding of the general background of the invention and should not be taken as an acknowledgement or any form of suggestion that this information forms the prior art already known to a person skilled in the art.